More wins for Chilean film

Regular readers will know that Chile mande several submissions to the Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente (BAFICI). The results are in and the Chilean film Sibilia by Teresa Arrendondo has been awarded the Human Rights Award:

“Names define films, especially when a name has multiple references like in this case: because the Sibilas were the women who had the gift of foreseeing the future; and Sibila is also the main character in this documentary. Director Teresa Arredondo approaches the complex life of Peruvian writer Jose Maria Arguedas’ widow and Jorge Teillier’s ex wife: a woman who was in prison for 15 years in Peru, convicted of participating in the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso. Teresa is Sibila’s niece, so her approach is not only political but also personal and familiar. One of the most interesting things about this film is the way it mixes narrative tones, and how it acquires rhythm. The beginning has an astounding contrast with the end, the narrative and aesthetic of the story change when Sibila enters the scene in order to lend her body and voice to the director. From then on, the film becomes wilder, more savage, less urban, and at the same time more conflictive and ambiguous, as the mythical character it attempts to portray.” BAFICI

In additon, Dominga Sotomayor picked up a Special Mention in the FIESAL Award section for her drama on family break up, De Jueves a Domingo. Dominga introduces the film at a previous festival below:

“Sharing a reduced space boosts your perception of everyday life. And through the eyes of a 12 year-old girl travelling with her family you can feel the comprehension she has of those really separate backs of the head she sees from the back seat. You can hint the frictions, the small invisible details: the code that unites parents, the ideas that push them away, the suggested scorn, the quiet disdain. The camera follows the girl and his brother in moments of full child happiness, like when they get on the roof of the moving car and let themselves be deafened by the wind instead of the argument their parents are having below. On the road we can guess the enemies they share time with (both the suspicious and the relaxed ones), there are stories of death and communion, and lessons that echo as if saying goodbye. You can feel the fear of the unknown and the change that will reformulate everything. Foreign, external, and too evident elements burst into the most inhospitable, dry, and scarily desolated space and impose a new journey.” BAFICI